Switch for gravity-conveyers.



M. (3. SCHWAB.

SWITCH FOR GRAVITY GONVEYEKS.

APPLICATION FILED ssrmm, 190'].

996,944. Patented July 4, 1911;

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iii 7 iii F W #5 If a i I Z/ H: V MW WITNESSES fin 703 ATTORNEY gravity conveyor including my invention;-

45 the basement floor 20. These openings UNITED 1-- oFFjIoEi Malar a o. scnwan, orlnnnrimonn, uanifllvligassrenon To GRAVITY CONVEYOR comrnnmaoonroaa'rlon 'orfn-nwrozax.

' swrron non aunt-confirms;

am nes-no filed s ambaj14,.19oa seriai 392,356.

To it bbncemr. 1

. 3% 't known that-.I, Mme: C. a, clt-lzen f the United States, residing i the following is a specification.

' My invention relates to gravityconveyers or chutes andcomprises features disclosed 1 in -my co-pending application, Serial No;

-24 2',406, filed January 23, 1905, Patent No.

'.8'68,020, dated October 15, 1907, for animprovement' package conveyers.

'Qne ofgth ob'jectsof my invention is the 5 provisiono ffia movable sectionof a spiral blade of ;a' '"gravity conveyer arranged to be deflected ln'tolposition to' deflect articles froih'their normal path of movement.

'Other objects of the invention will ap- .pear-.hereinafter, the novel combinations of elements being set forth "in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing. like characters of reference designate similar parts.

F lgure '1 is an 'BlEVfllZlOIlfil viewof a spiral and Fig.2 is a fragmentary plan sectional view of Fig. .1 taken on a plane above one of'the deflecting sections of Fig. 1. I 3

Referring to the drawings, 10 designates in general a spiral chute or a spiral gravity con'veyer comprising anouter shell 11, an inner core or tube 13, and an interposed helical blade 12 or aconveying surace arranged in convolutionsf. 20,1 30, 'and 50.

' designate the various floors or landings. connected by this conveyer. At thefioor 20 1s anout-take opening 21, and at the floors l 30, 40 and 50, respectively, are the in-takei9 openings, each provided with a door 32, 42

and 52. Through these intake openings,- after the doors are opened, the articles may be placed. on the conveyer to perfnit them to descendby gravity to a lower floor or to y desired, and ,any'type 'of'door.

be variedas may be used. K,

FQ't'her openings foiy'd1scharg ng packages orarticles from the conveyer are rovided -*-ab'ove the surface of the helical bla at, the

various floors oi"- at any desired elevr tions,"

the uppermost openingbeing designated by the reference number 43.. or near these out-take openings are connected troughs or auxiliary nhutes 24, 3t and-44, respectively,-

topguide the articles after passing through the outtakeopenings. The troughs 'menarmed are preferably attached to the outer shell 11 rigidly and made integral therewith. In some instances, however, the troughs may be removably connected to the conveyer.

fifi le t e f Patented July 4,1911.

In the aforesaid patent are disclosed and claimed pivoted shelves mounted in position to ;form' a-,c'ontinuation or ex- .tension' of the troughs into the conveyer in thenature ofbridges, these pivoted shelves or bridges =being, normally lifted above or clear of the spiral or carrying surface of the conveyer so as not to obstruct articles passing. downwardlyg' disclosure is also made therein of an interlockingdevicewith connections to the various bridges to permit the" latter to be operated from various floors. It will be evident that such interlocking de: vice and operating mechanism may also be used in connection with the present invention.

Instead of using pivoted shelves, a part of the spiral blade itself may be made movable, such part or section being designated by the reference number 12 and is pivoted at 75 between'the core 13 and shellll, or to the portion of the blade 12 immediately above the same. Ordinarily the section, bridge or shelf 12. rests upon' the surface of the spiral blade 12 by extending partly overthe same asindicated in Fig. 1, so that the usual operation of the conveyer is not. interfered with when the said section is in its lowermost position. 'Connected rigidly with the sections are the arms 26, 86 and 46, such that when the latter are moved either by connecting rods or handles attached thereto the positions of the sections maybe shifted.

It will be noticed thatthe out-take openings and the tr ughs adjacent the same are 's0"-arranged x that the articles cannot be thrown. therethrough by centrifugal force While descending. When asection 12, however, is lifted to a position to form substantially 'acontinuati0n of the spiral blade and the trough; the articles will be deflected .by such" section through aiifout-take opening ;and guidedbv the trough'in the proper direction. It snould be .j notedalso that the 105 vut'er shell or wall. 1-1; "Obviously" the switches or deflecting devices 12 may moved upwardly from such a position as shown between fioors'eO and 50 in Fig. 1"

so as to actually stopj descending articles, particularly if it is desiredto use opening 4.3 as an -intake opening as well as an -outtake opening however, the principal function of the deflector '12" is to stop the articles from descending farther along the conveying surface byleading them outof theconveyer. As indicated'in Fig 2a portion of the stop 12 overhangs a section of the blade beneath the same andwhen in non-defiecting position rests on 'the lower section; 'lVhether in conveying position or indeflecting position the upper vend of the stop 12 does not extend above the level of the surface of the upper section of the blade 12. 'In fact, by reason of the pivotal connection 75, the surfaces of the upper section 12 and the switch v.12 are substantially .continuous and no obstruction is produced byt-he switch 12 when the' latter is let down on the lower section of the blade 12. Nor is the continuity of the smooth surface of the upper section interfered with when the-stop or deflector 12, is shifted by means'of the lever 46 to the posi tion where the articles will be led off the conveyer. f

If the interlocking mechanism is used in connection with this improvement, only one section could be operated at a time and must be replaced to normal position before a section at another floor could be operated. If,'

however, the interlocking mechanism 1s omitted. as shownin the drawings, then one. or more of the sections may be operated such that articles placed into the conveyer at an upper floor will be ejected through an out-- takeopening at the floor immediately below, or at such a lower floor where the position of the deflecting shelf has'been shifted. ,If

, desired latch devices 27, 37, 4:? may be employed to hold the shelves in lifted position. Obviously those skilled in the art. may make various changes in the details and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit-and scope of my invention, and I desire therefore not to be limited to the precise construction herein disclosed.

i Havingthus described my invention, what I claim and desire to have protected by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. The combinationof a conveyer having a spiral conveying surface, an inclosing casing, and means movable about a horizontal pivot and constituting a part of such surface for switching articles ofl the said conveyer surface. I v

2. The combination, of an"inclosed conveyer having a spiral conveying surface. a device forming a part of saidconveyer for lead ng articles off the same and adapted to be swung about" a horizontal pivot into and out of operative position;

seems i 3.1The cpmbination with an inclosed conveyer having 7 a spiral. conveying-,.surface,

and ad'evice forming part of said surface and movable to a position to deflect articles from thev conveyer.

4:. The combination with a gravity conveyer having an inclosed spiral conveying surface, of a pivoted device normally constituting a part of the conveyer, and means for moving said device to ejecting position.

5. The combination of a conveyer having a spiral conveying surface extending above and below anopenin in the conveyer, anc movablemeans constituting a part of such surface for connecting the opening in said 30 conveyer with the conveying surface.

6. The combination with a conveyer having a spiral conveying surface extending above and below an opening in the conveyer,

of a device normally constituting a partof 35 such conveying surface, and means for shifting the position of said device to connect an opening in said conveyer with, the conveying surface. Y

7. The combination with a gravity conveyer having a spiral conveying surface, ofa pivoted bridge normally constituting a part of said conveying surface, and means outside of the conveyer for moving said bridgeto connectthe surface above the same with an exit opening.-

8. The combination with a gravity conveyer having a spiral conveying surface, of a plurahty of bridges eachcomposlng a portion of such surface, and means outside of the conveyerfor moving said bridges to connect the surface above the same with exitl conveyer, of a pivoted bridge or sectlon normally constituting a portion of such surface, and. means for lifting said section into a position to deflect descending articles '12 through said opening.

11; The'.combination with a gravity con-' vcyer having a helical conveying surface extending above and below openings in the conveyer, of a plurality of movable sections 12 .each normally constituting portions ofsuch spiral conveylng surface and individual devices for operating said .s'ctiohsfto connect or disconnect the co'nveymg surface above the same with vthe sald openings. 1:

ing a hel way formed by said blade,

12. The combinationwith a conveyer havical-con'veying' surface, of a plural- 1ty of troughs at difi'erentelevations adjacent openings in said conveyor, aplurality of bridges or sections,

mg surface, and individual appliances'for inoving said bridges or sections to connect .or disconnect the troughs with the conveying-surface-immediately above said sections.

13. The combination; with a post, of 'a helical blade surrounding saidposlt, .said' blade comprising a movable' section ar-: ranged to bemoved to form a 'break in the an outer .shell' inclosing said blade and post, and means forguiding the articles from said section and discharging the same outside the helical way from a place above said break.

14; A spiral conveyer comprising a post, means secured thereto and forming aspiral way around the same, said means comprising a hingedlsection arranged tobe turned pivotally into position to form a part of the spiral way or turned up pivotally to break the continuity of the spiral, and means arranged to lead articles ofl? tangentially from of the spiral when the same the said section is adjusted into its last-named position.

15. A spiral conveyer comprising a post, and means secured" thereto for forming a spiral way around the same, said means comprising a movable section arranged to be moved to form a break in said way or to form an outwardly extending switch section for leading the articles across said break and, discharging the same outside the spiral way from a place above the bottom of said switch section being secured. at one end to the unbroken part of said way and spanning the break its last-named position.

-16. A spiral conveyer comprising a post, and means. secured thereto spiral way around.

.of the spiral way one connected at or near each of said openings and each normall-y composing a, portion of such convey said way,

therein when adjusted into for forming a' 4 p the. same, said means "comprising a hinged section farra edto be turned pivotally into position to orm part or turned up 'pivotall to break. the. continuity of. theyspiralg an to form aswitch section-arranged to lead arti'-'' cles oft tangentially from-the broken-part j usted into its last-named. position.

17. The combination'of aconveyer comprising an outer shell, an inner coreland an interposed helical blade, said blade .including a section spanning a break in the blade of the spiralwhen said hinged section is ad-.

and normally in alineme'nt with the upper portion of the blade, and a device for moving said section from continuity to deflect articles from exit opening.

18. The combination with a gravity conv'eyer comprising an outer shell, aninner core and an interposed helical blade having pivoted sections, openings in the conveyer above said blade,

the blade through an and individual devices extending outside the' its normal position of a predetermined position to of guiding troughs at.

outer shell for moving said sections from.

their positions of continuity to a predetermined position to deflect descending articles' through said openings into said troughs.

19. The combinationwith a wallhaving an opening, of two spiral sections therein,

one forming a. substantial continuation of the other, the junction of said sections being opening, and ,a"

located adjacent to said between said secwhich overhangs the lower section and does not extend above the level of the surface of said upper section. In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification two subscribing witnesses. MARTIN C.- SCHW'AB;

vlVitnesses:

' CARL P. SCHROEDER,

GUsr. F. JEoLLIoKER.

in the presence of: 

